Public Policy and Input News

Dr. Eric France, Kaiser Permanente

Dr. Eric France is the Chief of Population and Prevention Services for Kaiser Permanente Colorado, where he is responsible for building care delivery systems that make it easy to stay healthy. He has spent six weeks in Portland learning about bicycle transportation, and will share his insight on why active transportation is a public health issue; on his findings from numerous interviews with bike leaders in Portland; and on what the practice of transportation and land use planning might learn from an integrated health care delivery model.

Plus, check out the bike blog Eric has been keeping during his time in Portland: http://onemorecyclist.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 12:00-1:00pm

Brown bag lunch, free to attend

Urban Center, Room 220, Portland State University

The City of Tigard plans to add sharrows to the pavement of the newly reconstructed Burnham Street. Sharrows appear on a few of Portland's streets and are growing in popularity in metro regions. Sharrows are a visual reminder that bikes are present on the road, as well as a guide for cyclists to follow to remain a safe distance from parked cars (think dooring) and cars on the road.

The WTA is excited to hear the City of Tigard is installing these sharrows and thus encouraging more cyclists to get on the road. If you support this kind of improvement, let them know!

(This is a sharrow)

The Columbia River Crossing project is a long-term, comprehensive transportation project that will replace the aging Interstate 5 bridge, extend light rail to Clark College in Vancouver, improve seven highway interchanges and include a better pathway for bikes and pedestrians. The project will be funded by federal and state governments, as well as from tolls.

Tolling will also help manage traffic congestion by improving travel speed and reliability for drivers. Tolls will be collected electronically to avoid the need for toll booths and to keep traffic moving.

The project's Tolling Study Commuttee wants to hear from you. How should they use tolling to help fund the project in a way that is best for taxpayers, users of the bridge, and nerby communities? Your input will be provided to the Oregon and Washinton legislatures in January 2010.

To learn more about tolling, please go to: http://tolling.columbiarivercrossing.org

The five-minute survey will be available by the end of August at the above website.